The Muscatine School District is asking voters to implement an instructional support levy.
"It's the only way a school district in Iowa can raise its spending authority," says Superintendent Bill Decker.
By raising the spending authority, the district will be able to use more of the money that comes in from taxes.
"Right now our situation in Muscatine is we do not need to raise additional revenue," adds Decker, "however, we do need the spending authority to be able to spend the revenue we already raised."
Since taxes will not be raised, voters will not pay more for the district to spend more. The reason the district decided to put the issue on the ballot is because school leaders want to make sure they continue to operate at the same level they are now.
"It's the operations of the school district," says Muscatine Schools Finance Director Jean Garner, "It's teachers salaries, it's custodial salaries, it's administrative salaries, it's supplies, it's gas and all the things it takes to operate a school."
The higher cost of things like gas and cuts from the state have taken their toll on the district's budget.
"The revenue stream has gone down, because of enrollment and the state giving us zero percent allowable growth," adds Garner.
Muscatine is one of the 17-school districts that does not have the authority to decide how much they spend from the tax levy.
"Without that we'll have to cut spending considerably," says Decker, "The cuts will be to the tune of a couple million dollars a year to be able to match our revenue."
If the instructional support levy passes it will be used for 10-years, but the district will have to approve using it every single year.
Polls are open from 7am until 8pm in Muscatine. For more information the polling locations and where to vote, click here.
